A content creator from Manipur has put off buying a new laptop worth nearly ₹2 lakh to fulfil a dream he has carried since childhood - attending a FIFA World Cup match in person.Zingkahi bought tickets for the Czech Republic versus South Africa in Atlanta for $140 each. (Facebook/Worchihan Zingkhai)In an as-told-to essay published in Business Insider, 40-year-old Worchihan Zingkhai recounted how his love for football began in a small village in northeast India, where residents would gather around a single television to watch World Cup matches.“I've loved football for as long as I can remember,” Zingkhai said, recalling how he grew up in a region where football is deeply ingrained in daily life. He shared that children in his village often improvised by making footballs from plastic and old clothes because proper equipment was hard to come by. He also recalled how villagers pooled money to buy fuel for a generator so they could watch the 1998 FIFA World Cup on a black-and-white TV.“Since then, I've watched every World Cup on television. I became a fan of Portugal and later followed the Premier League. However, attending a World Cup match in person always felt impossible,” Zingkhai added.Now, nearly 3 decades later, the 40-year-old is preparing to travel to the US for the FIFA World Cup. “Now, nearly 30 years later, I'm finally going,” he said.(Also Read: Indian woman in US says Indians abroad rarely return home after saving ₹10 crore: ‘Nobody actually wants to go’)A costly dreamHowever, the journey itself is far from simple. Zingkhai shared that his village is located around 5,600 feet above sea level and has no nearby airport. So, to reach Atlanta, he will first travel six hours by road to Imphal before taking a series of flights via New Delhi, London and Washington DC. “The trip includes four flights and about 27 hours in the air,” he said.Zingkhai said that his family's support has helped make the journey possible. He shared that his father-in-law paid for the flights from New Delhi to Washington DC, while relatives in the US are helping with accommodation expenses.Still, the 40-year-old said that attending the World Cup required significant financial sacrifices. He shared that as a full-time content creator who produces videos for YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, he had originally planned to buy a new laptop for video editing this year. He had shortlisted models costing between $2,200 and $2,500 (around ₹210,000 and ₹238,000). “However, I couldn't afford both the laptop and the World Cup trip, so the laptop will have to wait,” he said.Even so, he said attending the World Cup required significant financial sacrifices.Zingkhai added that people in his region are often cautious about spending because many earn around ₹500 a day. So to save for the trip, he said that his family has cut back on other purchases and avoided taking additional trips.(Also Read: ‘In America, even a 9-to-5 worker can own Audi’: Indian man compares salaried life in US and India)Missing out, then getting luckyThe content creator said that securing tickets was another challenge for him. He shared that he initially entered FIFA’s ticket sale in February with a budget of $350 per ticket and hoped to watch Portugal, England and Argentina. But after finally entering the online booking system, he found that the Portugal tickets he wanted cost between $450 and $650, which was beyond his budget.After spending too much time weighing his options, he missed out on tickets altogether. “I thought that was the end of my chance at the World Cup,” he said.Zingkhai said that his luck, however, changed in April when he joined another ticket sale. This time, he focused on affordability rather than specific teams and managed to buy 2 Category 3 tickets for the Czech Republic versus South Africa in Atlanta for $140 each. “One for me and one for my father-in-law,” he said.Zingkhai acknowledged the enormous demand for World Cup tickets, but he went on to express frustration over the resale market. He noted that after purchasing his $140 tickets, he later found nearby seats being resold for around $560.“As a football fan, that's disappointing,” he said, arguing that genuine supporters often have limited opportunities to buy tickets while resellers profit from high demand.“I believe some people purchase tickets mainly to resell them rather than attend matches themselves. For fans like me, that makes an already expensive event even harder to reach,” he said.